A conventional wheelchair has a main frame equipped with front and rear wheels and a body support composed of a seat member, a back member, and two footrest members. It is conventional to provide for vertical adjustment of each footrest member so as to enable persons of different height to use the same chair comfortably. It also is conventional to provide for tilting of the footrest member with respect to the seat member to change the elevation of the footrest, but it often is difficult to do so.
Entering and leaving a wheelchair may be difficult when the footrests remain in the normal position of use, i.e., in front of the seat. It is desirable, therefore, to be able to adjust the footrests to facilitate a person's entering and leaving the wheelchair. This desirable characteristic of wheelchair footrests has been recognized heretofore and some wheelchairs have provided individual foot supports which are rotatable about a substantially horizontal axis near the floor to enable the supports to be swung out of the way when a patient is getting into and out of a wheelchair. One such construction is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,023,048 issued Feb. 27, 1962, wherein the wheelchair includes footrest mounting bars fixed to the main frame of the wheelchair and has foot supports pivotally connected to the frame for rocking movements between a horizontal foot supporting position and a vertical position, thereby facilitating a person's entering and leaving the wheelchair. A problem with this assembly is that the supporting bars still may create difficulties for the chair's occupant. Furthermore, rotation of the foot supports can be difficult for an incapacitated person seated in the chair, particularly if the incapacity affects the ability to bend the distance required to enable the foot supports to be pivoted. In addition, the foot supports of this kind of construction are cantilevered from the pivotal axis, with the frequent result that the foot supports do not occupy a horizontal plane when in use, but have their free ends inclined toward the floor.
A principal objective of the invention is to provide a footrest assembly for a wheelchair which overcomes the disadvantages referred to above.